1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical meter socket block, unitary lugs incorporating sliding lug caps and an enclosure therefor such provision is made to seal a watt-hour meter with either a ring style cover and sealing ring or with a ring less cover by reversing the orientation of the meter socket block. The invention also relates to electrical connector assemblies and blade contact structures therefor which may also include a removably retained connector cap and slidable cap carrier.
2. Prior Art Statement
It is known to provide a conventional connector channel having a horizontal tab extending from a sidewall of a base, the tab provided with a through hole and a plurality of radial slots around the through hole. A stud is adapted to be inserted through the through hole of the tab, through a base of a blade receiver, through a spring and threaded into a blade stop. The stud also is adapted to be inserted into a hole in an insulator and affixed thereto with a nut threaded upon the free end of the stud and tightened against the insulator base. A conductor cap is adapted to be inserted into slots in the upper ends of the sidewalls of the base whereupon a conductor securing screw is inserted into the threaded hole in the conductor cap for tightening against a conductor laid in the lay in channel. As is readily noted, four parts are required to provide and secure a blade receiver on the tab. Conventional conductor connector with the tab may be used in disconnects, meter enclosures, electrical panels and the like. For instance, see FIG. 13. In some installations, the conventional blade receiver is typically constructed of plated aluminum while the blade inserted into the blade receiver is typically a plated copper blade. Contact issues may arise from these dissimilar metals and therefore there is a need for a blade contact element that is of a material similar to that of the blade. Additionally, there is a need for a conventional conductor connector or conventional conductor lay-in connector for receiving an electrical blade that has fewer parts, is readily assembled and which provides an improved interface with the blade receiver. There is also a need for an improved reinforcing spring that is captured upon the blade receiver and provides a significant positive force on the uprights of the blade receiver.
Stab type electrical revenue meters are well known in the field. Revenue meter enclosures typically consist of two different methods of grounding and sealing the meter. The ring style is mounted in an enclosure having a raised lip on a front wall cover of the enclosure wherein the meter extends through a hole centrally disposed in the lip and is sealed and grounded at the ring. The ring less style also extends through a hole in a front wall cover of an enclosure wherein the hole in the front wall of the enclosure is smaller in diameter than the body of the meter below the viewing glass. In a ring less style enclosure, a meter is grounded inside the enclosure on tabs and sealed at the cover latches. The ring style requires the meter socket inside to be spaced away from the wall a greater distance than a ring less enclosure. Two separate formed sheet metal risers of different heights currently accomplish this, thus requiring the manufacturer to stock different size risers for the two commonly used sealing methods. Meter socket assemblies typically have removable connector caps to allow conductors to be laid into a lay-in channel rather than inserted into a port hole. The caps can easily be lost and often are dropped into the conduit at the base of the enclosure. Additionally, meter mounting assemblies comprise at least four jaw assemblies of multiple parts, multiple mounting blocks, at least one mounting bracket and various threaded fasteners for assembling the meter mounting assembly and mounting same to the enclosure. Conventional phase conductor connections of the prior art are generally disposed at a 45 degree angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the enclosure and thus the generally larger and stiffer insulated phase conductors must be bent in order to connect either the load or line phase conductors to the meter mounts while the smaller neutral conductor, frequently uninsulated, is laid straight between the separated mounting blocks. Therefore, it is often difficult to make the connections as the phase conductors must be bent after inserting same through the conduit openings in a wall of the enclosure and is especially hard during cold weather. Accordingly, there is a need for a meter enclosure that has a meter block therein which allows the phase conductors to be laid straight from the conduit openings to lay in channels in the meter block with the smaller neutral conductors bent to lay in channels disposed alongside the meter socket block.
Thus, it is known to provide an enclosure that has a pair of laterally spaced integral risers embossed into a back wall of the enclosure for mounting a pair of meter jaw assemblies. The laterally spaced integral risers provide for use of jaw assemblies generally used for 100 ampere meters into a 200 ampere meter enclosure as the spacing of the 200 ampere conduit opening is from 0.75 to 0.875 inches higher than the conduit opening in 100 ampere meter enclosure. A recessed portion may be disposed between spaced apart raised portions. The offset nature of the lay in lug with respect to the line entrances requires bending of the very stiff power carrying load and line cables in an “S” curve in order to lay in while the frequently smaller diameter neutral conductor is laid straight between the two socket blocks. For instance, see the U.S. Patent Application 2008/0081510A1 published on 3 Apr. 2008 by Porter, et al., now U.S. Pat. No. 7,785,137 B2 issued on 31 Aug. 2001. No provision is made to mount meter jaw assemblies on different planes within the same enclosure, nor is it obvious from this patent application that such provision is even suggested. Therefore, there exists a great need for a meter socket and cooperating meter socket enclosure that allows sealing of either a ring type or ring less type meter installation in the enclosure by reversing the orientation of the meter socket block. There is also a need for a jaw assembly that cooperates with the meter socket block to capture all the lug caps of the lay-in jaw assembly upon the meter socket block. There is also a great need for a neutral conductor assembly that has a means for capturing the lug caps and holding same in a position adjacent an open neutral conductor channel while a neutral wire is inserted into a lay in channel of the neutral conductor assembly.
It is also known to mold jaw assemblies into separate meter socket blocks or to provide for a slide in jaw for each end of a meter socket block. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 7,503,800 B2 issued on 17 Mar. 2009 to Siglock, et al. No provision is made to capture the lug cap on the mounting block nor is there a suggestion that the block is intended to retain the cap while a conductor is inserted into the jaw. Furthermore, no support or reinforcement to the side edges of the extruded jaw is provided and thus the contact with the meter spades may be compromised. Generally, then there is weak contact between the extruded aluminum jaw parts and the metal of the meter blade. The phase conductor connections are disposed outwardly of the neutral connections thus subjecting the meter to potential by-pass tampering. Additionally, the phase conductors must still be bent sharply requiring use of a full length enclosure. Furthermore, the molded in or slide in tab provides substantially all the support for the conductor lay in channel, subjecting the channel to damage while installing and tightening the cap onto the channel. Thus, there is still a need for a jaw assembly that cooperates with the meter socket block to capture all the lug caps of the lay in jaw assembly upon the meter socket block and for a mounting block that is reversible upon bosses and recesses formed in a rear wall of a meter socket enclosure. There is a further need for a conductor lay in channel that is fully supported to reduce the likelihood of damage to either the channel walls or to the cap. Additionally, there is a great need for a meter mount of reduced height that provides greatly reduced labor in connecting as the meter mount has the phase conductor channels protected from tampering by centrally disposing the phase conductor channels inwardly relative to the spade connectors and beneath the center of the meter. Finally, there is a need for a jaw which receives a tin plated copper meter spade contact therein and receives a force enhancing spring cage installed over the upright legs of the jaw to provide reinforcement along the entire length of the jaw and provide a more positive location of the meter guide tab.
It is further known to provide for jaw portions of a meter receiving assembly that are pre-assembled to the insulating block with screws from the bottom of the support block into each jaw. Separate jaw assemblies are employed with both attached to a common support strap mounted onto and spaced away from a back wall of a meter enclosure. For instance, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,289,150 and 3,375,409 issued on 29 Nov. 1966 and 26 Mar. 1968, respectively to Rex E. Sturdivan. Each jaw is comprised of many parts and each jaw requires a screw to retain same upon the insulating block. Therefore, there is a great need to reduce the number of parts required for a meter mounting assembly comprised of at least four jaw/conductor lay in assemblies, a mounting block and conductor retaining caps. Additionally, there is need for a conductor connector that is provided with a blade contacting superstructure that receives a tin plated copper blade contact within the superstructure wherein the blade contact comprises an interface with an electrical blade and the superstructure. The superstructure may be provided with a spring for providing additional force contact between the plated blade contact and an electrical blade inserted therein. There still is a need for a meter mounting assembly that may be assembled and mounted to an enclosure entirely from the meter mounting face.
Additionally, it is known to integrally mold headed posts on a bottom side of each jaw mounting block wherein the headed posts are inserted into keyhole slots in the mounting bracket. The separate jaw mounting blocks are held in spaced relationship by a rigid member, such as the neutral lug, inserted between the jaw mounting blocks and secured to the mounting bracket. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 7,291,042 B2 issued on 6 Nov. 2007 to Jeffrey L. Johnson. Though the number of fasteners is reduced by at least one, there is still a great need for a meter mounting assembly comprising a minimum number of parts wherein lay in lug caps are captive on the mounting block and the meter mounting assembly may be used for both ring type and ring less meter sealing in one size of enclosure. Additionally, there is a great need for arranging the neutral conductors adjacent the meter socket block in order to alleviate bending of four stiffer conductors out of plane thus permitting bending of only the smaller, frequently uninsulated neutral conductors to the neutral conductor channels. Furthermore, since the neutral conductor channels are disposed alongside the meter socket block, there is a greater length of neutral conductor to be bent and the additional bending space inside the enclosure permits easier bending of the neutral conductor.
It has been known at least since issuance of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,131,984 and 3,221,216 issued on 5 May 1964 and 20 Nov. 1965 to Herman H. Kobryner to provide raised mounting buttons on the interior face of a rear wall of an enclosure for directly mounting separate jaw mounting block assemblies thereto wherein at least one of the jaw mounting blocks is adapted to have a fifth jaw affixed thereto. Still, multiple fasteners are required to retain the jaw parts to the blocks and to mount the blocks to the back wall of the enclosure. Accordingly, there is still a need for a universal mounting block assembly having a reduced number of parts that will permit mounting of either a ring type or a ring less meter seal. In addition, there is a great need for simplified conventional conductor connectors provided with simplified blade contacts having similar metal contact between a blade contact and a blade inserted therein. Furthermore, there is a need for an improved interface between a blade contact and a conductor connector.
An adapter to convert a ring less meter to a ring style in order to prevent tampering with the meter box to pilfer electricity is claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,530 issued on 19 Mar. 1985 to Robert B. Fennel. The adapter has stabs extending from a rear surface and jaws attached to the front surface, these stabs and jaws electrically connected. A ring flange is secured to the cover and to a locking flange which is in turn secured to the meter stops on the enclosure. Since an additional ring plate, mounting screws therefor, adapter and mounting screws add to the number of parts to be lost or damaged during installation there is a great need for simplicity of assembly and reduction of parts to reduce the amount of loss or damage in field installations. Additionally, there is still a need for a reversible mounting block that is internally mounted within the enclosure with the phase conductor channels fully protected from tampering by being disposed beneath the center of the meter base.
Meter jaw spring clips used to increase the contact force upon the stabs of the meter when the stabs are installed into the jaws are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,439 issued on 6 May 1980 to Andre J. M'Sadoques. The '439 reference provides a “C” shaped spring clip which has its arms extend around the uprights of a jaw and has ends engaged in slots in the sides of the jaw uprights that provides reinforcement only in a specific area of the jaw uprights. An upstanding tab at the bight of the “C” functions as a guide for the meter stab as it is inserted into the jaw. There is a great need for a jaw comprising a “V” shaped bight which receives a “V” shaped tin plated copper meter spade contact therein and receives a force enhancing spring cage that is installed over the upright legs of the “V” shaped jaw to provide reinforcement along the entire length of the jaw and provides a more positive location of the meter guide tab.
Also known is an insulating jaw guide that comprises a rectangular cavity which covers the upper portions, including the tops thereof of the jaw side walls to reduce the probability of accidental contact with a live element in the meter enclosure while the meter is absent. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 7,614,908 B2 issued on 10 Nov. 2009 to Fan Zhang. Though the rectangular cavity slips over and snaps onto the jaw assembly, there is no spring contact force upon the stab engaging portion of the jaw provided by the insulating rectangular cavity. Thus, there still exists a need for spring cage that fits over a spade connector that engages an external sidewall of the extruded jaw to provide a great spring force upon the stabs of the meter along the full length of the jaw.
Finally, it is known to provide electrical connector blocks that comprise a channel and an overlying cap which slides along grooves on the outer peripheral surface of the walls. At least one of the sidewalls of the groove is provided with a stop detent along one top edge to limit movement of the cap member beyond a position of intended use. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,571 issued on 3 Feb. 1987 to Walter, et al. Therefore, there is a need for a cap which may be moved along the walls of the conductor channel to a position remote from the lay in, frictionally retained in that position while the conductor is placed in the channel, readily movable to overlay the installed conductor and be tightened thereagainst, yet be readily removed from the cap groove when unserviceable by sliding the cap laterally in the cap groove against a spring assisted portion of the sidewall of the groove and tilting the cap relative to the cap groove. There is also a need for a retainer for a conductor cap which holds the cap against a base of the retainer with depending hooks.